Santorum defends attacks on Obama

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — Rick Santorum continued to play defense Monday, working to explain a handful of controversial statements that appear to draw links between President Barack Obama and Adolf Hitler and seem to question the president’s Christianity.

As the former Pennsylvania senator leads in Michigan polls, he faces criticism from Mitt Romney’s advisers for seeming to connect the Obama presidency and Adolf Hitler, although Santorum didn’t identify either by name in a Sunday night speech in Georgia. Santorum denies that’s what he intended.

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In remarks at First Redeemer Church in Cumming, Ga., Santorum compared the lack of alarm and outrage over Obama’s agenda with American complacency prior to World War II.

“I’m sure some of you have ancestors who were part of the Greatest Generation. Why were they the Greatest Generation? … They were the Greatest Generation because when their country needed them at a time of great peril, they met the challenge,” Santorum said. “Your country needs you. It’s not as clear a challenge. Obviously, World War II was pretty obvious, but at some point, they knew.”

“We’re a hopeful people,” Santorum continued. “We think, ‘Well, you know, it’ll get better. Yeah, he’s a nice guy. I mean, it won’t be near as bad as what we think,” he continued.

“This will be OK, I mean, yeah, maybe he’s not the best guy after a while.’ After a while, you find out some things about this guy over in Europe who’s not so good of a guy after all,” Santorum said. “Sometimes, it’s not OK. It’ll be harder for this generation to figure it out. There’s no cataclysmic event,” he said.

It was never clear either who the “nice guy” referred to or who “this guy over in Europe” was meant to be.

When asked by reporters Tuesday whether he was directly comparing President Obama to Hitler, Santorum said: “No, of course not,” adding that he has used the World War II metaphor “a hundred times in my career.”

But the remarks drew immediate fire from Romney’s campaign with Michigan’s primary only a week away.

“Sen. Santorum is spending his time talking about — questioning the existence of public schools, questioning prenatal testing. Just yesterday, he was talking about World War II and making a comparison between President Obama and Hitler,” Mitt Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said Monday on NBC’s “The Daily Rundown.” “Look, we are going to stay focused on jobs and the economy. I’m happy to talk about Mitt Romney’s conservative record as governor … but this election is going to turn on jobs and the economy, and that’s where our message is focused.”

Santorum’s World War II remarks are the latest in a string of eyebrow-raising comments from the the former Pennsylvania senator. In a Monday speech here in Steubenville, the former senator continued to beat back criticism for his remark that Obama’s agenda was based on “some phony theology, not a theology based on the Bible.”

Santorum has repeatedly said he was not criticizing the president’s Christian faith and was instead referring to Obama’s energy agenda.